Saturday, 25 April 2015

April Beautifully Bohemian Ipsy Bag

I was super excited this afternoon to open my front door and find my Ipsy bag between my screen door and front door waiting for me! I'm honestly quite thrilled to say that this month's bag is by far the best bag I've received to date. They nailed the products and the theme this month. With Coachella and the influx of Spring/Summer music festivals, having a Bohemian bag was a beaut of an idea, and I think they did amazing with the products. Unlike quite a few of my previous bags, I did not feel like I got any 'samples' this month. Even though a few of my products are small (I'm looking at you, eyeshadow from The Balm, you tiny thing), none of them feel like samples! Woo-hoo. I got a total of five products this month and I'm incredibly pleased with the diversity of every single one of my products. A blush, a lipstick, a single eyeshadow, a perfume, and a face lotion. A great selection of cosmetic, fragrance, ad skincare. I didn't get too much or too little of any those things. Below is a list of everything that was in my bag!

1. Hikari Blush in the shade 'Tango'

2. KCO Colors lipstick in the shade 'Natural Born Beauty'

3. Lather Ultra Light Face Lotion

4. The Balm Nude Dude single eyeshadow in the shade 'Flirty'

5. Jor'el Parker Femina fragrance

1. Hikari Blush in the shade 'Tango'This blush, in real life, looks wildly pigmented and very vibrant. In fact, when I pulled it out of my ipsy bag, my boyfriend said "Wow... That's uh... loud." and I explained to him that blushes sheer out a bit when you apply them (or most do, depending on the blush and the brush you use). That is, however, the case with this blush, and I'm not certain my photo actually does it justice colour-wise. It's quite a coral-y pink colour, almost in a neon sort of way. When applied, it adds just the right amount of coral to your cheeks and I think this would look amazing on tanned skin.Enter the code hikari30 for 30% off your purchase and a free eyeshadow at hikaricosemtics.com!**only valid in the US.

2. KCO Colors lipstick in the shade 'Natural Born Beauty'This is the first time I've received anything from KCO, and aside from how difficult & annoying it was to peel the plastic off of this product (seriously. Some of it is still on--I did a good job hiding it in the photo didn't I? ;), I actually quite like the lipstick. It comes off slightly sheer at first, when swatched, but once you build it up the colour is quite nice. The colour as it appears in the photo is pretty much the colour it is. It's a very... nudey, faded pink colour. If I'm speaking generally here, this colour seems to be a pretty popular one lately with brown tones and nudes, but it's not very 'me'. I'm very picky with lipsticks, but I'm happy to add this to my collection. (I was kind of hoping for the Elizabeth Arden lipstick if not just for how beautiful the packaging is).Enter the code IPSY2015 for 20% off any KCO Colors purchase at beautybrands.com!

3. Lather Ultra Light Face LotionI quite like this moisturizer, though I must admit that it's difficult for me to dislike a moisturizer. As I have extremely dry skin, my face just absorbs and sucks up any lotion so quickly, and greasiness is never really much of a problem for me (unless I just glob it on, which isn't pretty but sometimes it needs to be done). This product claims to not be greasy, and reading the comments on the Ipsy page underneath the product, people agreed with that claim and I'm inclined to agree as well, though like I said, I have dry skin so I can't say whether this product would be non-greasy on someone with oily skin. Give it a try, it's supposed to be for all skin types! It's also paraben-free, for those of you with intolerances to that. Using the code ipsy15 will get you 15% off purchases at lather.com!**valid in the US and Canada.

4. The Balm Nude Dude single eyeshadow in the shade 'Flirty'The photo for this eyeshadow isn't an accurate representation of its size. If you picture a beer bottle cap (I'm a bartender, these are my analogies), that's about the size of this product. Notice I didn't say eyeshadow, just product. Because the packaging surrounding the shadow itself is a lot bigger. Having poked fun at the size of this teenie-weenie product, I do have to say that I like it. The Balm always has very cheeky packaging, and I use that term as a pun. Same with teenie-weenie. And cheeky. Oh, lord, cheeky, package, weenie? Am I twelve?

*Ahem* moving along. The eyeshadow itself is not bad. I do find you need to use quite a few coats to get it to the colour it shows in the pan, and even then it's a bit sheer and I would recommend it for a very subtle look. It is also very shimmery and the colour 'Flirty' (the one I received) is a very purple-y bronze shade, which I love!Using the code IPSY20* will get you 20% off your purchases at thebalm.com!* (man, the bomb dot com? These guys are on fire)*Code is case-sensitive*Only valid in the US

5. Jor'el Parker Femina fragrance
When I said I didn't feel like anything in my bag this month was sample-sized (in a bad way), I honestly meant it! This perfume size is absolutely perfect. It's not so small that you, a) lose it in your purse all the time, and b) run out of it in like, 5 minutes, and it's not too big that you can't carry it around everywhere! This will be my new purse-perfume. The notes for this fragrance are: Meyer Lemon, White Grapefruit, Satsuma Mandarin, Summer Forsythia, Pink Plumeria, Wild Verbena, Tahitian Vanilla, and Sensual Musk. In other words, it's a very earthy, fruity scent. Very bohemian, which is the theme they were going for (and I guess nailed it).Using the code IPSY will get you 30% off your purchases at jorelparker.com!**valid in the US and Canada only.

Well there you have it, guys! My ipsy bag for this month. Absolutely one of my favourites, and it totally makes up for some less-than-amazing bags that I've been receiving lately.

The Woman Behind the Curtain

A young twenty-something who enjoys video gaming (way too frequently and for all too many hours), dark lipstick shades, extremely strong coffee, and Netflix documentaries. Not necessarily all in that order. She lives on the Canadian East Coast and finds it extremely difficult to write about herself in this manner. Enjoy the blog!

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Welcome & Bonjour

Welcome! I'm Cass. I'm 23 years old and I'm a reclusive gamer and hobbyist who happens to be a fan of beauty. I love video games, dark lipstick, graphic & interior design, and watching copious amounts of Netflix. Click here for more about me.